good morning. and welcome to mosaic. i'm rabbis why season. it is core of human existence is language. communication matters in. in a word of everexpanding technology, how we write and read and understand the written word, how we understand communication matters. with us this morning to talk about this issue in honor of november and jewish book month is haired friedman and michael lavine, a novelist most recently publishing the wanting. howard, let's jump in. the jewish community library is a library that houses books and

has all sorts of programs that encouraged people to read to enjoy the imagination of writing and the relationship between a book and a writer. how do you see this issue of everdeepenning technology? >> that is a good question. the first word touched me. there's a back that came out last year -- book that came out last year called jews in the words. and they have a memorable sentence that is about jews that ours is not a blood line but a text line and they sort of locate at the center of the jewish experience, the passing on of the word of text and we see ourselves at the library very much in that tradition and i see that encounter whether it's through a written become or whether on line or whether or through e back, what we're doing fundamentally is interacting with text very much in that tradition of reading

the torah and synagogue and sitting around the table at passover with a book in our hands. and for me, reading a novel is a continuation of that experience. and what you talk about one of the things for me that deepens that experience is not only reading but communicating with each other about it. and that is one of the reasons that i'm by big booster of book clubs at the library. we try to encourage precipitation. >> how do you construct a book club? >> there are so many informal book groups whether with an institution or groups that know each other that exist and our job is support those groups. we have a program called book club if a box in which we offer free sets of books to those groups to borrow and also we have a new program called one

bay, one book in which we are encouraging all of the book groups in the bay area, should they be interested in exploring a single book this year. >> so as an artist and writer and a novelist, just to ask a big, basic question, why do we write? >> why do we write and read? >> that is a big question. i've grown up with words. i can't imagine life without reading. as a form of self-expression. for writers, it's a funny thing. everybody wants to express themselves. but writing a book is a huge job. it's a job of discipline. you have to sit down every day and you have to work every day as if you were going to the

office. and yet there is something so fundamentally real and pure and you're bringing something out of yourself and you bring to bare everything you've ever red, learned and done into every sentence that you write. it's an extremely powerful thing. and you were talking about book clubs and i do a lot of book clubs. i skype them and i do them all over the country. and actually i'm from pennsylvania, from philadelphia and there are 10,000 people that will be reading my book at the same time. to me that is mind boggling. what more could you want? >> your book is called the wanting and it's just been recently been published. what will leave us unsatisfied to the point of wanting to go

out and get the book? >> mean what it is about? >> i'll do the opening for you. this is how to starts. there's a russian immigrant living in israel who is an architect. he's sitting in the office in front of his big plate glass window that he loves someplace in israel. and a bomb explodes outside his office shattering the glass. the glass is about to fall upon him and kill him. the head of the bomber goes floating across the window and he flinches just enough to be saved from the falling class. it is not only his window that shatters but his whole life. and he starts to remember his life in moscow. and he goes on the journey into the west bank to find the parents of the person that blew

himself up for some or the of closure and at the the same story of this young man that blew himself up who is now sort of the disembodied presence trying to figure out why he cannot get into paradise that is only part of it. >> and a quick break in times for people to go to their computer and order the book and come back here to join news one moment.

good morning. welcome. we're in the middle of a wonderful conversation about communication and language and books in honor of november being jewish book month.

we're joining by michael lavine that is the author of a book that was just published called the wanting it. and we were talking about how book clubs and the nature of them. and i'm wondering how you think about the relationship between a reader and a book as someone lives among a stack of books and you have people coming in all the time to get books to read to enjoy. >> i think it's interesting. at one level it's and intimate experience. for those of us that read a lot, there is a relationship that say personal relationship of the reader and the book and you mention book clubs and it's the opposite where it is a communal experience. and i value that experience. there's a tradition within judaism of studying our text in partnership with others and there's a line from the book of

proverbs as iron sharpens iron so does one person sharpen another. and there's a quality we we look at a text together and come to a different perspective. michael's book is a good example. i love this book. and i read it myself and you read it myself, we would each come to our own perspective. and i would be looking through your eyes and becoming to some conclusions that i would not have arrived at myself. >> yes. i agree with that i did a book club discussion that i had not written and said what themes did you see in the book? it was astound what different people bring to the table.

once you write a become it's out there. and you have no control over it at all. and it's enriching, i think, to do these things together without dead den grating the single experience. my wife was reading a new book and she was -- she was crying through the entire book. >> what is the name of the book? >> i can't remember the name. i'll get it. but that experience that she had is one kind of wonderful experience. and now when she does the book in her book group it will be a different thing. >> as a write, i know there are so many things that's any artist that -- things that any artist thinks of in the execution of their cast. do you yourself think of the reader while you're writing?

do you have some assumptions? >> that is a great question. once you have an audience, you're there and you're thinking about them. and you're thinking, will they understand this or will they not understand this? and you have to decide to trust your audience and not talk down to them. you need to allow them into your experience as a writer. it's a balancing act. and you want everybody to see what you're doing and challenge them with what you're doing. >> we have to end in a moment. but in your own writing style, do you write as if you are speaking and telling a story orally? is it more of an intellectual cognitive experience or choose words on a piece of paper?

>> for me what i'm writing, i'm completely involved in my characters and i am them. and i see it and hear in like the second before i'm typing it. it's like a play for me. before it's on the page it's in my mind. >> fascinating. >> so we'll encourage people to engage in book club and come to the library. >> library is a great place. >> and we'll encourage folks to look for your book the wanting. and we need to take another break and we're going to say good-bye to michael and howard and welcome two other authors in a moment on mosaic.

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good morning. we're in the middle of a conversation in communication in today's world and the jewish community library's book club this year is called one bay, one book. that is the name of the program for the year. and the book that they are going to be reading and discussing for the entire year is a book called a guide for the pro pro plexed. and it is -- proplexed. this is a short story writer whose book is just now published. it's called five years and also

by joan gelson who is the editor for the j that is it our local jewish community newspaper and also a poet. welcome joan and jason so you're writers and artists. you utilize your imagination this way. you're a poet and short story writer and writer of fiction. i'm curious to know what is the difference you think between writing poetry and writing short stories? >> i don't write poetry, but i admire poets so much. i actually mean this quite sincerely. i think a person that writes novels or short stories is a person that can't be a poet and can say in short of a space as

a poet. i have huge admiration for poets. >> lovely. i wish all the culture felt that way. >> for one thing, it's time. you can write a poem in less time than a story or a novel. but people really don't realize that good poems are revised over and over. and what a poet has a collection come out, even though it may only be 78 pages instead of 780 pages, the pages have been worked and reworked. it's a labor of love. that is what it is. and it's hard work. >> and just ask a basic question because i know a lot of people think about this certainly and there are other writers listening to us talking and people that are readers and just admire that and enjoy it.

why do you write? >> i thought about that question. and what you start to write -- i started to write very young. i started to write when my teens. you write because you get encouraged. you put your toe in the water and you say this is a poem and you present to someone and they're touched and you go, oh that is interesting. and you do it again and do you a reading and people come up to you and say they cried and you go that is interesting. i went for my masters and my teachers encouraged me. this piece could be a film. you get that kind of support and that's really keeps you going, especially over years. >> and jason? >> i write to understand something. the example would be something that is bothering me. thing is why people write

songs. it's an urge to write something and to understand what is bothering you. but i try understand things that are not immediately bothering me. and i do creative writing. i tell my students write what you want to know. what you do know. to me it's something that i want to know and that is the drive to understand is going to be reflected in the drive of the story. it will be the narrative impulse to understand something. and i where about somethings that i don't have immediate knowledge of at all. >> that is it a wonderful segway. can i say speaking about political poetry. we talk a lot about political poet trip. and there's a brilliant essay by steven dunn. and he said that you can write political poetry, but unless you don't know what the ending

is, it's not going to work. the same thing. there has to be an element of surprise that if you sit down and you know where you're going and what you want to say, then it's going to come out. it is beautiful tying into that. >> i agree to that. we all -- all writers have the people saying that makes such a great story. so sometimes one is attempted to write that great story but you know the ending of that story. and it actually doesn't make such a great story and you told the story and you how how this is going to end. you made the joke so to have this basic idea of where i'm going without knowing how it end up being surprised is the most wonderful feeling and the most wonderful feeling for me when i'm writing and i get to the point where i realize i

don't have to go any further. >> we're going to stop quickly and take a break and we're going to show your books on the screen as we go to the break and come back in a moment here on mosaic.

welcome back. it occurred to me that to make a general statement that both people begin writing by writing in a day ary -- a diary or they get an essay assignment at school and maybe it makes a shift or a book or book ever poetry -- of poetry ends up being a public diary. it's typically thought of something that is kept secret. and then you actually move into a little bit of a public fear. and i'm wondering what you think of that peer in particular writing processer. is that bring a bell? >> it does. one thing that we learned when we're in writers' groups or

essay programs is there is writing that is private. and that's the diary writing that is healing and that is important and that helps people to know themselves. but when you put your work out in public you start to want to have some universality. there has to be a truth moment that is bigger than your own personal experience, yes. >> because we have just a little bit of time left, let's talk about your couple books and ask jason to talk about his recently new published book so people can hear a little bit about them. don't tell us too much, just tell us enough to want to go get them. >> my book is called five years. it's a book of short stories.

it won a publication prize. they are storys that are inspired by my growing up in southern jewish community in savannah. so characters and stories that i have not experienced directly but that i have kind i've known or grown up with or heard. i think probably asking a writer asking what his book about is not the greatest but my publisher calls mine outside tales. to me the subject matter is varied. i have a couple of stories about conmen. i have a sorry about solving an art mystery and a couple more coming of age type stories. >> called five fire year?

>> yes. there's a section on environmental poetry. my urge to talk about what is happening to our certain in there. there's a section when that it is like to live in the city and also be nature person. and there are a lot of poems about san francisco. >> we have one minute left. so i will ask each of you a question. a one word answer is a big question. so, jason, in a world that is need may be broken what heals? >> listening. >> what would be one thing that you would change in the world if you could? >> political infighting.

>> please go to a bookstore and buy a book and get on the computer and bay a book and go to your -- buy a book and go to your local library and take a book out and if you enjoy writing, keep on writing. thank you for joining us on mosaic. for over 60,000 california foster children,

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